Utah to Idaho to Wyoming to Montana

What a serisous whirlwind week!!!!  Four states in four days!!!!

After Utah, we drove past hours + hours + hours + hours of farmland.  Whizzed by Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  And I mean flew through because Jackson Hole is crazy congested, chock full of tourists + rhinestone cowboys.  This is all y’all are gonna get of Jackson Hole – their famous antler archway:

Onward to Colter Bay Village!!!!  I lurved it there!  Wish we had mooore tiiiime there!!!!  Lookit our cutie, sweet cabin!

Cutie + sweet until we realized the adjoined rooms were separated by literally a sheet of plywood!  You could hear everything your neighbors are going on about!  “I PUT THE FRITOS IN THE TOP SHELF!!!!!”.  OKAY!!!  My lord, have mercy, I don’t care about your durned Fritos!  I highly recommend that if you stay in one of the cabins, request a stand alone!

Since we arrived in late afternoon, we hurriedly (that’s the only way we do things – hurriedly + frantically) took my new stand-up paddle board (Oh?  You didn’t know I bought a paddle board in Los Angeles???  Well, I DID!!!!) out on Jackson Lake for it’s virgin voyage.

That dot back there is moi.  No closeups because I looked like a stocky Amazon + the pictures were too pixelated.  But here’s Jeff kneeboarding on my new board!  He’s too darn big for my 10 footer.

Of course you paddle board with a cowboy hat on!  Duh!

The next morning I wasn’t feeling my best as is displayed in this photo.

Aren’t the Grand Tetons breathtaking?  We headed to breakfast – Colter Bay Village is great because they have restuarants, visitor centers, the marina + gift shops.  Here is a cute little couple that like to coordinate their outfits – pink at that!!!!

There is also a really well curated + restored Indian Arts collection.  Sometimes they have different artists doing demonstrations.  So cool.

Lots of beadwork to drool over.

The best part is when I was at the register looking at something, 2 of the older ladies working behind the counter were giggling away.  Another employee asked, “What are you two laughing at?”.  The 2 answered, “Oh, look at that guy over there in his hat + shirt – you’d think he’d be wearing some fancy boots.”.  “Oh, I see him!!!!  You just want to go over there + fix his pants!!!!” replied the woman.  At this point it dawned on me that they were talking about Jeff + his crazy cuffed flood jeans!  “Well, maybe he just came back from fishin’!!!!” one said + they all had a real good chuckle.  Jeff was not amused.  LOTS of people were really bemused/tickled about Jeff’s jeans.

On we headed to Yellowstone National Park.  Gorgeous.

The Old Faithful Inn first opened it’s doors in 1904 + is one of the largest log hotels in America.  Designed by Robert Reamer, the architecture was crazy + there was a “Crow’s Nest” at the tippy top where an orchestra would play for the guests in the lobby below.

Yes, yes, yes we saw Old Faithful erupt.  I was fascinated by all the different types of tourists + how many there were!!

That was my view of Old Faithful – there were just too many peeps.  Old Faithful goes off about every 90 minutes, thus it’s name.

Moving on!  No time to waste!  Midway Geiser Basin was where I wanted to be!  I loved these beautiful space age looking flowers growing out of the rocks!

I also love all the good fashion I saw in Yellowstone!

Opal Pool.

Grand Prismatic Spring!  The mother of them all!  The largest hot pool in Yellowstone!

If you look closely at the top of the frame in this picture, you’ll see elk hoof prints!  Those loony beasts are just walkin’ around in this stuff like it’s nothin’!  Love it!

Grand Prismatic Spring was my favorite part of the park.

Can’t you tell how powerful I feel about it???

I said to Jeff, “If I was a rock star, I’d want to shoot my music video here FOR SURE!!!”.  Right?!

It was windy as all get out.

There were so many hats strewn about, it was making me sad.  People, hold on to your G-D hats!!!!  Dora the Explorer down!!!!!!

One little girl screamed, “This is where hats go to be sacrificed!!!!”.  I love kids.  Another hat victim at Excelsior Geyser.

As we were driving to our next natural wonder treat, there was a major traffic jam.  Out snoozling + feeding in the fields were bison!!!!!

Urrrrrgh!!!!  Too cute!  We also saw a brown bear but couldn’t get a picture.  Stupid people were getting out of their cars – don’t mess with bears, people!!!!  The ranger was getting all pissed on his loudspeaker, “GET BACK IN YOUR VEHICLES!!!!”.  Say it, brother!!!!!

Lower Yellowstone Falls.  It is a steep hike down – these old stairs were FREAKING ME OUT!!!

Still windy as all heck.  I’m trying to clutch at my hair so it’s not in my face for the picture.

And yes, it is a steep hike up, so beware!

Mammoth hot springs!!!  Okay folks, at this point I was getting really burnt out.  You know when a kid goes to Disneyland + their head is spinning from excitement?  And then toward the end of the day, it’s Meltdown City + they don’t give a rat’s ass if they’re in the Happiest Place on Earth anymore?  That’s how cranky pants I was getting.  But once I got out of the car + saw these awesome travertine formations, I settled down.

There are soooooo many more pictures I wish I could post, but the clock is ticking my friends!  It was evening when we rolled into Montana + thank the lucky stars that Mark’s In and Out exists in this world!!!!!

Get me outta this car!!!!  I shouldn’t complain – Jeff’s been doing most of the driving!!!  Wooo!!!  Lucky me!!!!  Mark’s In and Out established in 1954, y’all!!!!  See me in the back waiting for our order?

YUM!!!!!  Great old fashioned burgers, Cadillac fries (cheese sauce, y’all) + tater tots!!!!  Winner winner!!!!!

No, we are not ready to kill each other on this road trip as that photo attests.  Surprisingly…. There are more Montana adventures to be had – we are still in Montana, but we’ve got to high-tail it outta here!!!!  Will post about Montana later!  On to the Canadian border today!!!!!  Wish us luck!  Cross your fingers!!!!!